What Gives

“In the old days, it was not called the Holiday Season; the Christians called it ‘Christmas’ and went to church; the Jews called it ‘Hanukka’ and went to synagogue; the atheists went to parties and drank. People passing each other on the street would say ‘Merry Christmas!’ or ‘Happy Hanukka!’ or (to the atheists) ‘Look out for the wall!’”
–Dave Berry

“Yule” spread good cheer if you use these unique ideas for exchanging holiday cards with…

…Your Customers

 As customers check out, ask them to pick a card – any card – from the many hanging sealed in envelopes near your register. If you do not have a storefront, visit your customers with a mail sack of holiday cards in envelopes and invite each customer to pick a card. Inside each card is a holiday message and a gift – a discount off their next purchase. But, inside a few there are instant win slips for a special holiday prize.

…Your Employees

Looking for an entertaining way to give presents out at your office holiday party? From the stage, call out a common article that people may be wearing, or have in their purse or wallet, such as a red sock or a receipt for a holiday purchase. The first person to get the article in your hand gets to choose a holiday card in a sealed envelope. Make sure you move around the room a lot as you call out each article to give everyone a fair chance to get the article in your hands, no matter where they are sitting. Inside some cards there may be a slip of paper stating they’ve instantly won a special gift. Inside others are challenges the person must complete, such as naming all of Santa’s reindeer or singing the next line of a holiday song. Upon the successful completion of the challenge, the person gets to choose a wrapped present from the stage. If they are not successful, they get a consolation prize.

…Your Friends & Family

Once all of your guests are gathered at your party, hand each a holiday card. Every card should be different because the object of the activity is to have guests mix and mingle to sign next to an item on a list, placed inside the card’s envelope, stating how their holiday card is similar to other guest’s cards. They must find a different person for each match. For instance – find someone who has:

Award a prize to the first person to find all of the matches. Or, give everyone a set amount of time to complete the activity and place everyone who completed it in a drawing for a holiday-themed prize.

Looking for a way to break up the cliques at your office party, but don’t think you’ll have a snowball’s chance? This holiday mixer activity will thaw out your colleagues -http://www.wildlydifferent.com/wildly-different-diy-activity.php. Or, if you’re hunting for a way to inject even more holiday cheer to your party, consider purchasing one of the holiday treasure and scavenger hunts from our sister company, Masters of the Hunt, at this link – http://mastersofthehunt.com/holiday-scavenger-hunts.php.

Do you sometimes have uncertainties and doubts about how you lead?

Solitude retreat

Do you like the idea of great leadership, and struggle with the execution?

 If any answers are “Yes”, you are definitely not alone.  Leadership can be an extremely stressful, exposing and isolating experience and one that deserves time to refuel in order to move ahead on purpose.  Leaders are bombarded with models, and few are offered the time or freedom to explore the components of leadership that ultimately make the difference…

“Synergy” and “The Field” have partnered to develop a new and dynamic process to develop leaders that cuts through all of the hype and gets straight to the heart of leadership.  Here are just a few things we focus on:

• How leadership has evolved and what it actually means
• The brain’s role in leadership and how you can train yours to serve you
• Fear and the role of emotions on leadership
• Why feedback may be doing more damage than good
• The anatomy of insight and the benefit of quiet leadership
• The risks and benefits of being TOTALLY yourself as a leader…

The gang in the cave

Set in the beautiful Numinbah valley.   This is a program that demands both accountability on behalf of the leader in taking personal action toward their leadership, as well as skills to take back to pass on to their organisation.  In this unique 3 day retreat for leaders, you will explore the history of leadership, be exposed to cutting edge material for leadership today and design your own unique path as a leader for the way forward.  Oh, and the adventure of a lifetime along the way…

Eleven Twelfths – Once I get to November, eleven twelfths of the way through the year, it’s hard not to begin to look backward. I have a tendency to look backward too much, dwelling on what I should-have, could-have, would-have done. My wife is the exact opposite, fortunately. She doesn’t spend much time dwelling. She’s more of a planner. I guess that’s why we make a good team. Opposites do attract, but there’s a challenge that comes after the thrill of newness wears off and those ‘opposite’ characteristics cause friction. Yet we don’t want to surround ourselves with people who mirror ourselves. What would be the point? In business this is especially true. It’s best to build a balanced team with multiple skill sets. So with our optimal team we have multiple skill sets, variety, and often conflict. Team Building to the rescue…you knew that was coming!

But seriously when I worked with a group from Ferguson plumbing products last week, I felt like a fish out of water. They were cut and dried fixture types and myself, mostly right brain. Well we ended up with a great song and a great experience. They learned that plumbing can be creative and very very funny with lots of lyrics about waste water, efficiency and value; all in an off-color sort of way. I learned that focus on unique products, design and detail really does make a difference.

All smiles as a group from Ferguson plumbed their way through a great song and gave voice to what their company stands for.

This Is A Wonderful time of year to plan team building as part of your holiday gathering. Fun, interactive, memorable and productive. Take a look at one of our holiday events from last year, Kidbilly on Youtube

I had a wonderful opportunity to attend a workshop about HBDI led by Bob McKown. Bob is a fantastic facilitator, coach and human resource consultant. I found out a lot about my learning, thinking and behavorial preferences. Most importantly, I gained skills and knowledge that will help me be bring more awareness to our team building programs. For more information about Bob McKown and XMi Human Resource Solutions click here, 

Share Your News: If you have any suggestions for the next monthly newsletter, let’s hear them. I’d love to share what you’re doing. Do you have new ideas or services you’re offering? Let us all know!

I hope you’ll visit us at www.kidbillymusic.com to learn more about Team Building Through The Art of Songwriting, creativity, productivity and living with enthusiasm.

Stay in touch and let us help you deliver the programs you need.

Billy Kirsch

Thus far we have spent some time “Rethinking our own leadership style” and “Discovering our informal leaders.” The next item on the agenda in the 25 Weeks to Building a Successful Organization series is “Creating explicit norms or protocols.”

Transformation in any organization has the potential to produce unwanted conflict, often leading to ineffective processes, reduced communication, and poor working relationships. It is inevitable and a fact of life. Change brings about tension and without managing the behaviors of individuals and the organization as a whole, you might see your organization’s ability to succeed plummet.

The impact is exponential. Again, we go back to the initial post “Rethinking our own leadership style“—in that, each employee’s actions, inactions, and interactions shape the environment of the organization, their cumulative effect can have much more dramatic results.

When it comes to the tensions hindering the progress of your organization, you can take two approaches. For one, you can take a BB gun line of attack by relentlessly documenting each employee demonstrating patterns of sub-par behavior, ultimately leading to disciplinary action. Word will get around that certain behaviors are not tolerated, and everyone else will get the hint. Yet, without a well-known set of “rules,” this approach might create more stress within, especially for you. It may even push many employees to stray away from working with their peers for fear of disciplinary action if things go badly in their own day-to-day dealings.

The second option, “Creating explicit norms or protocols,” can be linked to a shotgun approach. In effect, it is far-reaching and effective, yet it doesn’t dismiss those who are already doing things right. Creating explicit protocols is about you making a deliberate effort to engage your employees in the creation of shared and accepted expectations for employee behavior. In other words, you facilitate the proactive development and agreement of productive group norms. These norms serve as organization-wide commitments to act or behave in certain ways. Once these agreements are in place, your employees will have the capacity to turn conflict and tension into progress.

Spending the necessary time to eliminate any ambiguity in expected behaviors is far from wasteful when the aim is to provide a concise guide for individual and collective behavior. A systematic approach guarantees, above all, that everyone recognizes the values they share as a group. Explicitly developed productive norms have the advantage of helping employees deal consciously and conscientiously with any situation before it begins to impede progress.

Try this.

At your next meeting facilitate the creation of organization-wide norms or protocols. I offer you a simple nominal group technique.

1. Place everyone in groups of six to eight with the chairs arranged in a circular fashion.
2. Assign each group with a recorder to document the sharing of each employee’s desired norm on a large poster in the middle of the circle. (Note: You may want to assign the recorder. This has to be someone who is skilled in keeping conversations on track.)
3. Give everyone one index card and ask each employee to write one desired norm or protocol that will help create an organizational culture that is conducive to collegiality and group effort.
4. After each employee’s statement, the recorder asks the group if they understood the desired norm, agreed with the norm, or had some reservations about the norm.
5. Everyone continues to share their desired norms until all the cards within the group were read and clarified.
6. Once each group finishes, the meeting transitions back to whole-group where each recorder briefly summarizes their group’s dialogue and posted their respective poster for all to see.
7. Assign everyone a partner and give each group ten colored dots. Ask them to walk around the room (similar to a gallery walk), exchange ideas on the various norms, and vote on the ones they jointly felt would have the maximum influence on building a positive organizational climate and culture.
8. Count the number of dots for each desired norm, announce the top fifteen norms that would serve as the initial guideposts for accepted behavior, and ask if anyone would have difficulty committing to the newly established norms.

Now, as the leader, it is essential that you hold others accountable for the newly established ideal behaviors. Ultimately the aim is for each and every employee to begin holding one another accountable. That takes time, persistence, and modeling by you.

Try this.

If you observe an employee failing to adhere to the agreed upon protocols meet with them. During the meeting “describe the gap” by stating the following—almost word for word.

(Employee’s Name) on (date) we all agreed upon (the protocol for the behavior they failed to follow). On (date/time their uncooperative behavior was observed) I noticed that you (their specific negative behavior). What’s going on?

Now just sit and listen intently; trying to “hear” the root of the problem. Is it motivation or ability? Both require a different response. Oftentimes a failure to meet expectations surrounding agreed upon behaviors tends to be a motivation issue. If this is the case you want to make the invisible visible; in other words, explain any inherent consequences they may not see.

I always like to challenge their values. Check this out.

You know (Employee’s Name), we all agreed to (the protocol for the behavior they failed to follow). When you don’t follow through with this your colleagues might wonder if they can trust you. Everyone was there and agreed.

Ouch! You know how much employees yearn to keep the respect of their peers. It takes you out of the equation.

This approach stems from skills outlined in the book, Crucial Confrontations; a resource all leaders should explore. The book works to give people the tools to hold others accountable without damaging relationships. Check it out.

Final Thoughts

No doubt bringing all your employees together can help achieve a positive context. They can go a long way toward building a collaboration-filled culture when they put effective processes in place to draw the system as a whole into creating protocols agreement. With agreement comes the institutionalization of productive norms. This is an ongoing process, which takes persistence, time, and effort, because agreement is constantly changing as the organization faces new internal and external challenges of change.

Activities in a nutshell

1. Work with your employees to create, and agree upon, explicit norms or protocols.
2. Hold employees accountable for these expected behaviors.

Questions for you.

Please take the time to add any additional thoughts, ideas, or processes in the comment box. Have you had to deal with employee behaviors that were detrimental to the organization? How did you respond? What specific processes have you used to develop explicit norms or protocols to guide employee behavior?

Upcoming

The next post in the 25 Weeks to Building a Successful Organization is “Re-inventing organizational values, beliefs, and goals.” Everyone comes to the table with diverse experiences, worldviews, and beliefs. How can the leader tap into these individual ideals and translate them into organizational values, beliefs, and goals?

Cheers!

Perry Wiseman, author, Strong Schools, Strong Leaders: What matter most in times of change

If you’ve ever been to a sporting event for your favorite team, you will notice that everytime the team makes a big play or scores – you jump, scream, holler and give high fives all over the place. This is a huge motivating factor for the teams in the game. When we celebrate the team’s score or big play, it’s our way of celebrating their accomplishment and letting them know want them to keep it up.  The same applies to your project. Teams need positive reinforcement to stay in the game. Don’t wait until the end of the project to celebrate. Accomplishments  should be celebrated along the way to motivate teams to do more of it. 

 Here are a few key ways to keep your team scoring big:

1.Become your team’s biggest fan! Be the #1 supporter, encourager,  coach and motivator they need to keep making plays!

2.Always find something positive or noteworthy to celebrate. If they reach a milestone successfully, it’s worth celebrating!

3.Make a public spectacle of your team’s successes! Let others know how great the team is!

Go ahead! Have fun with it!

After posting yesterday, I reconsidered a lot of what I said. I still agree with my statements before, it just could’ve been worded better. I may eventually edit it, but for now, I’ll just say it’s my blog, so there.

Strangely enough, waking up super early, for me, made my day, because of the reason I was up so early. I led a Non-profit FIG group in teambuilding this morning. For those of you who don’t speak Mizzou or adventure recreation, FIGs are Freshman Interest Groups. Most Mizzou freshman join a FIG when entering because we’re highly encouraged to so we can meet like-minded individuals, because you live with them and take at least one class together.

My FIG was a waste of time for the most part and I hardly talk to five people out of the 15 or so in there. However, some groups really bond, like the one I led today. Venture Out does so many of these one hour FIG groups. One hour is hardly enough to really engage in teambuilding, so we don’t try to process- talk about what we learned and our feelings- too much with most college groups. Usually, we start an activity and then let them play.

I started this group on the knot, though, and they worked the whole thing out. For time’s sake, I gave them an opportunity to make it easier, but even then they worked together, took their time and really tried to solve the problem. Then, we did in’s and out’s. We did cups. Not once did they complain. It was amazing.

And they processed! They answered questions without prompting. They took the time to attempt to make connections to real life. It was amazing.

Totally worth meeting 7:30 a.m.

Team-work Not a Panacea

Organisations look for support in assisting their people to relate and work effectively together. What they often request is team building? But what do they mean by this? In most cases they seek for individuals to have increased levels of co-operation with each other. That is fine but then when they employ consultants, coaches or outdoor management instructors they often develop people to work synergistically with each other since this is the ultimate expression of co-operation. The problem is working synergistically with each other is not appropriate for all areas of the workplace.

Is co-operation the final goal of development or is it the required foundational quality to develop further is a key question to ask. Achieving consistent co-operation is a good result to achieve as a final outcome of development programmes for groups. Building on foundational co-operation and achieving synergy is a good result for a small group, a team.

Groups and Teams Different Both Valid Models
A good working definition of ‘Teams’ are small groups of people that achieve synergy. They need developing to achieve synergy in work areas that require high levels of mutual problem solving/creativity. A good working definition of ‘Groups’ are large or small groups of people that co-operate to fulfil common purpose.

Group and Team Development Process

Many people are for familiar with the Professor Tuckman’s model showing the stages of development for teams – Forming, Storming, Norming, Performing, Adjoining. A useful model for developing teams from professional, general co-operative people who work in a pecking order through developing norms after working through issues and problem solving to reach high performance from synergistic working. Less are familiar with Professor Honey’s model showing the stages of development for groups – Chaotic, Formal, Skilful (optional last stage). A useful model for developing groups from the chaos that follows a group formation/re-structure to establish efficient stable working processes that link everyone’s input to common purpose.  If the group is not too large and on the same location an optional third stage, Skilful, is possible where a level of flexibility is added around core systems and processes.

Typical Examples of Group and Teams

Typical examples of groups we have helped develop include school of academics, finance groups, sales-forces, group of Directors, whole departments and groups split across locations. They all have a low level of mutual problem solving and creativity for different reasons. The academics have highly autonomous roles and do not often meet as together as a whole group. The individuals within the finance group have defined roles and responsibilities so most work is accomplished through individual working with only occasional reference to each other. A sales force has individuals each with their own clients/area and thrive on competition. The overall success of the group is helped by establishing common purpose and encouraging co-operation like passing on leads and other information however they do not need to or have the time to constantly develop relationships with each other and engage in mutual problem solving. Directors in the main whom work with their own division/profession and or travel around the world have not the time available to investment in team building activity on a regular basis. Whole departments are just too big to develop as one team and will naturally form several small teams whether we like it or not. They need developing as a whole group then developing small teams within the group that support the group purpose and change agenda. The same being true even for a smaller group spilt across locations. In this case the teams at each location need developing after first developing the whole group across locations.

Typical examples of teams we have helped develop include manufacturing cells, team of trainers, administration teams and team of Directors. They all have a high level of mutual problem solving and creativity. The manufacturing cells are a few people who have the ability to cover for one another, engage in mutual problem solving and creativity through Continuous Improvement practices. Trainers meet together often and engage in activities to discern organisational needs, design programmes and get developed together or pass on learning to each other. Some administration teams work in a flexible ways covering for each other, mutually developing and improving systems and routines for serving others and require to work as a team. Directors who work in the same location and typically see each other on a daily basis with weekly meetings are in a position to develop themselves as a team to engage in mutual strategising, planning and problem solving.

Importance and Order

Both group and team building are important to achieve high performance in an organisation. Developing teams without group building leads to high performance teams who ironically work less effective with each other. It may actually increase internal competition rather than co-operation. Group building is a more complex activity compared to team building and ideally needs to be done in areas before team building. In this way teams are developed to look outwards and support the group purpose and values. The biggest group is the whole organisation with its brand built on a strong common purpose and values.

Article on Group and team development soon to appear on www.Create-ability.co.uk

Team-work Not a Panacea

Organisations look for support in assisting their people to relate and work effectively together. What they often request is team building? But what do they mean by this? In most cases they seek for individuals to have increased levels of co-operation with each other. That is fine but then when they employ consultants, coaches or outdoor management instructors they often develop people to work synergistically with each other since this is the ultimate expression of co-operation. The problem is working synergistically with each other is not appropriate for all areas of the workplace.

Is co-operation the final goal of development or is it the required foundational quality to develop further is a key question to ask. Achieving consistent co-operation is a good result to achieve as a final outcome of development programmes for groups. Building on foundational co-operation and achieving synergy is a good result for a small group, a team.

Groups and Teams Different Both Valid Models
A good working definition of ‘Teams’ are small groups of people that achieve synergy. They need developing to achieve synergy in work areas that require high levels of mutual problem solving/creativity. A good working definition of ‘Groups’ are large or small groups of people that co-operate to fulfil common purpose.

Group and Team Development Process

Many people are for familiar with the Professor Tuckman’s model showing the stages of development for teams – Forming, Storming, Norming, Performing, Adjoining. A useful model for developing teams from professional, general co-operative people who work in a pecking order through developing norms after working through issues and problem solving to reach high performance from synergistic working. Less are familiar with Professor Honey’s model showing the stages of development for groups – Chaotic, Formal, Skilful (optional last stage). A useful model for developing groups from the chaos that follows a group formation/re-structure to establish efficient stable working processes that link everyone’s input to common purpose.  If the group is not too large and on the same location an optional third stage, Skilful, is possible where a level of flexibility is added around core systems and processes.

Typical Examples of Group and Teams

Typical examples of groups we have helped develop include school of academics, finance groups, sales-forces, group of Directors, whole departments and groups split across locations. They all have a low level of mutual problem solving and creativity for different reasons. The academics have highly autonomous roles and do not often meet as together as a whole group. The individuals within the finance group have defined roles and responsibilities so most work is accomplished through individual working with only occasional reference to each other. A sales force has individuals each with their own clients/area and thrive on competition. The overall success of the group is helped by establishing common purpose and encouraging co-operation like passing on leads and other information however they do not need to or have the time to constantly develop relationships with each other and engage in mutual problem solving. Directors in the main whom work with their own division/profession and or travel around the world have not the time available to investment in team building activity on a regular basis. Whole departments are just too big to develop as one team and will naturally form several small teams whether we like it or not. They need developing as a whole group then developing small teams within the group that support the group purpose and change agenda. The same being true even for a smaller group spilt across locations. In this case the teams at each location need developing after first developing the whole group across locations.

Typical examples of teams we have helped develop include manufacturing cells, team of trainers, administration teams and team of Directors. They all have a high level of mutual problem solving and creativity. The manufacturing cells are a few people who have the ability to cover for one another, engage in mutual problem solving and creativity through Continuous Improvement practices. Trainers meet together often and engage in activities to discern organisational needs, design programmes and get developed together or pass on learning to each other. Some administration teams work in a flexible ways covering for each other, mutually developing and improving systems and routines for serving others and require to work as a team. Directors who work in the same location and typically see each other on a daily basis with weekly meetings are in a position to develop themselves as a team to engage in mutual strategising, planning and problem solving.

Importance and Order

Both group and team building are important to achieve high performance in an organisation. Developing teams without group building leads to high performance teams who ironically work less effective with each other. It may actually increase internal competition rather than co-operation. Group building is a more complex activity compared to team building and ideally needs to be done in areas before team building. In this way teams are developed to look outwards and support the group purpose and values. The biggest group is the whole organisation with its brand built on a strong common purpose and values.

It’s the time of year where giving to those that are less fortunate is at the top of our minds. People without homes,  without families, and that might have other struggles. Whatever those struggles might be and no matter how big or small, seeing glimmers of hope in eyes that were once veiled with burden, brings us fulfillment and purpose. Imagine a meeting or an event in which every attendee can walk away feeling a sense of accomplishment because of their involvement in a charitable activity. Alan Ranzer has been able to help package this unique gift to meetings by way of his involvement in the organization, Impact 4 Good .

Impact 4 Good offers opportunities for any size group to enjoy teambuilding activities with the unique twist of being socially responsible. Many organizations are now being held accountable for their contribution to corporate social responsibility (CSR), and Impact 4 Good helps organizations accomplish the task of giving to the community by using a variety of teambuilding tactics.

Instead of rambling about all of the teambuilding ideas that the site has, I thought I would tell you about my personal favorite, called Community HeART. Alan explained this one to me personally when I met him at the MPI Midwest Regional Conference. Basically, the goal of the activity is that a beautiful piece of artwork is created from each of the teams and is donated to a local schools, hospitals, and community centers to help spice up their wallspace. The teams work together through many scenarios to find their artists, make their shapes, and much more. Pretty creative stuff. 

Take a moment to look deeper into some of those meetings & events on your desk that might be able to benefit this season by giving to a higher purpose. Just a small touch at a meeting can make such a great impact. As planners, it is our responsibility to make sure that we are being as resourceful to expose all creative options to those organizations we work with in order to help them become socially responsible. How are you contributing to communities in the organizations you work with?

Vous êtes un Comité d’Entreprise, Etudiant ou un Groupe d’amis, sollicitez RSO la Plagne pour organiser votre séjour, mini séjour ou votre week-end à la montagne

Avec toute l’équipe de professionnels RSO la Plagne, profitez du formidable terrain de jeu qu’est la montagne pour partir a la découverte. de nouvelles sensations et de paysages exceptionnels en toute sécurité Nous vous proposons une multitude de formules adaptées au plus près de vos besoins afin que vous profitiez au maximum de votre séjour.

 Détente – Sportif – Aventure – Team Building – Ludique – Gastronomie

 Périodes :

                        Du 03 Janvier  au 06 Février et du 07 Mars au 03 Avril 2010

Prestations: 

Nous vous proposons une palette d’activités, selon vos envies à vous de décider…

 Ski & Snowboard : Piste, hors pistes, freeride, freestyle, randonée, découverte paradiski, slalom, skiercross, boardercross, ski nocturne, descente aux flambeaux

Nouvelles glisses : Telemak, yooner, snowscoot

 Activités hivernales : Moto neige, luge, raquette, bobsleigh, parapente, ski jooring, chien de traineau

 Séminaires et Teambuilding : Olympiades, chasse aux trésors, construction d’igloo, course d’orientation, sports collectifs, escalade…

 Formation : Neige et avalanches

 Gastronomie : Soirée en refuge, babecue…

Yesterday we established the Theme of our first Exhibition.

It is quite controversial as some people see it as cliche and perhaps find it boring due to the amount of press about soldiers in Iraq and Afganistan.

We would like to prove otherwise – that it is a lively and very emotional topic and can be interpreted in many ways.

Also, today I have discussed this Theme with an artist and was told that it might be too limiting. So it is going to be open for a discussion tomorrow.

We have chosen the name of the company, but that is going to be discussed further.

We have contacted out potential “gallery space”, one of retail stores that is currently empty.

We are very eager to hear from them.

Most of us have worked on teams that, for whatever reason, never really achieved the results expected.  With all of the focus on the importance of teamwork, why do teams fail so often?  Research by The Ken Blanchard Companies has identified the top 10 reasons for a team failing to reach its potential. 

1. Lack of a sufficient charter
2. Unsure of what requires team effort
3. Lack of mutual accountability
4. Lack of resources
5. Lack of effective and/or shared leadership
6. Lack of planning
7. Lack of management support
8. Inability to deal with conflict
9. Lack of focus on creativity and excellence
10. Lack of training

How do you avoid these pitfalls? Here’s a checklist of seven key elements (represented by the acronym PERFORM) that can help you remember the components of a high performing team: 

• Purpose and values. A high performing team needs both a clear sense of what the desired  goal is, combined with a common set of values that will serve as the ground rules for how the group will work together.
• Empowerment. The team needs to have the authority to act and make decisions and choices with clear boundaries. Groups that are limited in their ability to carry out recommendations suffer.
• Relationships and communication. A high performing team is committed to open communication. People need to feel that they can take risks and share their thoughts, opinions, and feelings without fear.
• Flexibility. Successful teams prepare for shifting conditions by making sure that everyone has responsibility for team performance, development, and leadership.
• Optimal productivity. This includes a commitment to high standards and quality. Team members hold each other accountable and strive for continual improvement.
• Recognition and appreciation. High performing teams take the time to provide feedback and recognition. Recognition reinforces behavior, builds esteem, and enhances a feeling of value and accomplishment.
• Morale. Finally, high performing teams monitor morale to make sure that team members are enthusiastic about their work, proud of their results, and feel pride in belonging to the team. 

How’s your team doing when it comes to these seven elements?  To learn more about the ways you can improve your current—or planned team projects—be sure to check out the teams resources available in the Outcomes section of the Blanchard website.

Tell them, and they will forget. Show them, and they will remember. Involve them and they will learn.

- Ancient proverb

Far too often, leaders have the tendency to assemble employees into teams, allocate time lines, and expect high performance and high results. Intentions may be great, however, as many know, building effective teams is no small feat. It is challenging and involved. Group dynamics are complex!

In my research study, Professional Learning Communities and the Effectiveness of the Teams within those Communities, I examined how teams contributed to the institutionalization of collaborative school cultures. Although many published works have argued that team effectiveness was critical to the success of a school, they offered no empirical data to support this view.

In the study, data were gathered from 51 principals and 1,467 teachers in their respective schools. Not surprisingly, the evidence clearly demonstrated the schools exhibiting high levels of collaboration had better functioning teams than their counterparts. This sounded like plain common sense, but the point needed emphasis.

With that in mind, along with a true desire for collaboration as a norm, the leader has to function with a frame of mind that dysfunctional teams cannot be tolerated! Leaving teams in a dysfunctional state not only uproot the aim of building a culture of collaboration, but also eventually wreak havoc in the organization.

Why then do so many organizations fall short in bringing about change through essential teambuilding?

The answer is (drum roll, please):

Far too many people pay no more than lip service to the concept of the effective teams when, in fact, most team members are not schooled in team building techniques.

Knowledge of team building strategies (and group dynamics) may not be widespread. Consequently, the leader must allocate special time to develop and empower capable team leaders, who must be properly trained to facilitate teamwork.

Here is how to do it:

1. First, the leader must set aside training time to model and speak openly about the team building structures, specific processes, and activities expected in the organization.
2. Second, the team leaders must faithfully articulate these structures and processes with their respective team members and implement them.
3. Finally, the leader and the team leaders need to, again, regroup to examine findings, present feedback, and discuss the usefulness of the processes.
4. Repeat step 1—and so on.

Teaching teambuilding is definitely not a one-time workshop. This exercise of teaching team building, having team leaders practice with their respective teams, and coming together for reflection must happen repeatedly. The process has no end because the task of continuously taking teams to a higher plane entails multifaceted study, practice, and reflection.

Although there are hordes of teambuilding frameworks out there to help guide teams, I have always found the book, Building Teams, Building People, the most useful. The authors describe 17 characteristics that, when diligently attended to, can serve as a springboard for effective teams.

Cheers!

Perry Wiseman, author, Strong Schools, Strong Leaders: What matter most in times of change

Over my long career I’ve worked at a number of different companies and been the “new boy” on countless occasions.

With that experience I feel that I’m fairly well qualified to advise businesses on what their employee’s want.

And if a managing director came to me and asked me what he could do to improve morale at their company my response would be “team-building exercises”.

There a whole load of meetings and team building companies operating across the country and they feature well-trained staff who make sure you company gets as much as it can out of such events.

Companies like this lot will offer themed meetings, proven “break the ice” events and fun, clever development tasks.

For further proof of the importance of team development, note that Tesco have recently announced a huge investment in their senior staff development programme.

On Monday, April 14, 2008, I coordinated a meeting with a little over 1,000 participants—parents, students, and staff. Not too bad for a school with an enrollment of approximately 750 students. The objective of the meeting was to collectively begin developing a vision for a school that was scheduled to open in the 2008-2009 school year.

A few weeks prior to the event a communication was sent out to all the families informing them of the meeting time and date. The letter also urged each stakeholder to be prepared to participate in an extensive discussion surrounding a “Share an Experience” sheet that was included in the letter. It read:

Share in detail a memorable personal experience that you have had where a parent, student, or staff member from a particular school exceeded your expectations. What did that individual do to make the experience so extraordinary? Why was the experience so special? How did it make you feel?

As everyone excitedly squeezed into the Multi-Purpose room (with standing room only) for the much anticipated meeting, I introduced the staff and discussed the evenings agenda. The feeling in the air was indescribable.

Next, each of the families reported to designated classrooms throughout the school where teachers led structured conversations. Their goal was to develop values statements—encapsulating themes that emerged from each participants responses to the “Share an Experience” sheet. Each teacher, operating as a facilitator, was provided with the following directions.

As the facilitator:

• Direct everyone to get into groups of five and ask them to read one another’s completed “Share an Experience” sheet.
• Have each group dialogue to determine theme(s) and/or keyword(s) that emerge from the positive experiences.
• Have each group share out their theme(s) and/or keyword(s). Document those findings on the whiteboard.
• Jointly create a one-sentence value statement that captures each group’s theme(s) and/or keyword(s). Write the statement on a large poster.
• Assign a member of the group to share out during the whole group debrief. They must summarize the dialogues and read the statement.

As I walked into each classroom to observe the unique conversations, I noticed that pretty much everyone was engaged and sharing their own personal memorable experiences. The discussion was deep while all stakeholders were given the opportunity to be ‘heard.’

As the discussions came to an end, each breakout group transitioned back to the Multi-Purpose room. They were all charged with presenting their one-of-a-kind values statement to the whole group. Not only did they share their statements, but many commented on their appreciation for the process.

A couple of the statements that were conveyed included:

The parents, students, staff and community believe that a student’s voice should be an inspirational communication of positive reinforcement for the empowerment of confidence.

To promote our future leaders through high expectations, aggressive education, and community relationships.

Believing in each other leads to shared dreams and successful KIDS!

The crowd roared following each group’s presentation. Finally, I approached the podium and grabbed the microphone, scanning each of the posted values statements. I turned to the crowd and waited for a few seconds. You could hear a pin drop. What came out of my mouth next sparked a response that I will never forget.

I pointed to the posted statements and yelled,

“SO WHO WANTS THEIR CHILD TO ATTEND A SCHOOL WITH THESE VALUES?“

The place erupted. It was breathtaking and I will never forget it.

Cheers!

Perry Wiseman, author, Strong Schools, Strong Leaders: What matter most in times of change

I have done some extensive research on the topic of professional learning communities (PLCs). Specifically, my dissertation topic was, Professional Learning Communities and the Effectiveness of the Teams within those Communities, where data was collected from 51 middle school principals and approximately 1,500 teachers.

This data strongly suggested that schools striving to become PLCs must focus on building effective teams—specifically Dr. Harvey and Dr. Drolet’s 17 Characteristics of Effective Teams, which can be found in the book, Building Teams, Building People.

Think about it: If you want a collaborative culture where teams are working effectively and interdependently towards a common goal, you cannot have dysfunctional teams running rampant throughout the school.

The problem lies in the fact that far too many leaders are stating, “We are a PLC school. We are a PLC team. We are going to a PLC meeting.” This is, unfortunately, giving those less understanding of the concept the impression that this is the latest fad in education. It is a school culture—not a program!

With my post-graduate studies, the data that emerged from my dissertation, and my experiences in opening of a new school, I pinpointed four cornerstone pieces that must be in place before a PLC truly can. They are:

1. The leader must stray from the tradition, autocratic approach and become skilled in inclusive processes.
2. The staff must come together and develop explicit protocols that steer the staff in communication, decision-making, and interpersonal relationships.
3. The leader must tap into each staff members values and beliefs to co-create a shared purpose.
4. Team leaders must become better skilled and prepared to build effective teams.

If these four pieces are not in place, the school culture known as the PLC will never become a reality.

Cheers!

Perry Wiseman, author, Strong Schools, Strong Leaders: What matter most in times of change

John Kenna from Hosca Management Consultants Officiated for the NGM Teambuilding Workshop

Finally…a break for my weary and at this stage sore throat. Also, a break from QG15 – 160+ students for 3 days, 8 hours per day….it wasn’t good!

Today’s theme was team-building. Again, we worked with external specialists – Hosca Management Consultants. For the last couple of years, we have delivered teambuilding in small groups and on a programme-by-programme basis. While this was sufficient, it didn’t necessarily allow for cross-programme socialisation, some students had participated in similar workshops and to be honest, it didn’t scale. And withn 160+ students, we needed scalability. As such over a number of weeks, we worked with Hosca to design a teambuilding workshop that blended theory, activity and individual reflection.

The day started with students registering and completing the Belbin Self-perception Inventory for Team Roles . Once completed, students were assigned groups with members from each of three DCU Business School NGM programmes i.e.  MBS in Marketing, MSc in Business Management and MSc in E-Commerce. Hosca staff then presented and discussed Belbin and the theory behind team roles. The the fun began.

NGM Teambuilding activities varied

Due to the size of the class and unpredictable Irish weather in late-September, we rented DCU Gym for the day and with Hosca designed 12 activities that teams would complete. These were largely mapped to the Belbin team roles. Each team was competing against the others for the marvellous DCU Gym Bag prizes. Each activity was supported by a Hosca member of staff. The feedback from the students was great although after 3-4 hours, fatigue had set in. We finished the day with some video content and discussion on the day’s activities.

Some activities were hands-on...

Team work and the ability to collaborate is essential in the modern organisation. As such, it is an integral part of DCU Business School postgraduate education. The day’s activity demonstrated that learning can be fun, productive and meet a number of aims. A number of students remarked upon the fact that they got to increase their circle of friends again through the team activities. Hopefully, they can carry this through to their coursework and in to the workplace.

Some weren't.

Vital Smarts is a consulting firm offering a variety of seminars on themes like Crucial Conversations, Crucial Confrontations, and the Influencer. At a seminar on the Influencer, the presenters spoke about informal opinion leaders. Because they are well respected by their peers, informal leaders exert influence, allowing them to sway the opinions of others. The foundational leader has to discover the informal leaders in the school and keep them close to any change initiative (p. 34).

Excerpt from the book, Strong Schools, Strong Leaders: What Matters Most in Times of Change, by Dr. Perry P. Wiseman.

Pre-orders now available at Amazon.com, Barnes & Noble, and Rowman & Littlefield. Also, take a peek at the article titled, The Foundational School Leader, which was featured in the 2009 Sept./Oct. Issue of the Association of California School Administrators (ACSA) Magazine. You can click here to view it.

I forbindelse med et teambuildingarrangement i firmaet for et par måneder siden, stiftede jeg bekendtskab med følgende ordsprog:

“Du får aldrig mere end du giver, men du får næsten altid, hvad du fortjener”.

Jo mere jeg tænker over det, desto mere mening giver ordsproget, for det gælder jo nærmest i alle forhold her i livet.

På jobbet er det åbenlyst på mange måder i forhold til den personlige indsats, men ordsproget holder i høj grad også vand i private sammenhænge, i kærlighedslivet, i forhold til familie og venner, sundhed o.s.v.

Hmm…

Can anyone recall those waste-of-time meetings where one or two staff members took up far more than their share of the meeting? Of course you can. We have all experienced someone trying to railroad meetings with their personal agendas. These insistent members are notorious for putting on the facade that they have supernatural powers—e.g., invulnerability, x-ray vision, super hearing, etc. They know it all, right?

Look up in the sky. It’s a bird. It’s a plane. No. It’s Mr. Jones, the librarian!

Of course I am being facetious, but you know exactly who I am talking about. This type of behavior can, however, have far-reaching consequences—especially in the area of decision making. Often times the leader ponders: Are those few voices truly representative of the group?

When bringing a group of people together to generate, winnow, and implement solutions, the leader must extrapolate the collective creativeness of the group—not just a select few. An open forum (which feeds the so-called Super-men and women) does not always tap in to the joint intelligence of the group. In fact, this meeting design often only creates tension and compliance, as opposed to togetherness and commitment.

The questions then become: How can the leader dispel the group’s tendency to use input from only the few? How does the leader create a culture where participation is ‘the way we do things around here.’

There are two noteworthy answers worth mentioning. For one, the leader has to bring the group together and develop explicit meeting protocols, norms, or agreements that explicitly define the group’s expectations surrounding meeting participation and processes. Secondly, the leader must use a variety of processes that encourage anonymity when generating ideas. This practice drives everyone to participate—which, in turn, leads to more ideas surfacing and buy-in from the participants because they were heard.

Although anonymity allows everyone to have a voice, this should not be the only application in the leader’s arsenal. Too much anonymity can produce a group personality where members hide their experiences, expertise, and viewpoints behind the process. Yet, while members of the group are striving to gain trust with one another, anonymity should be commonplace. As time progress (and relationships strengthen) the leader can slowly wean the group towards more outward processes—while keeping the explicit protocols in the forefront of discussion. It is truly a balancing act!

There are a slew of activities and resources that are available for practitioners looking to gather information from a variety of stakeholders. Harvey, Bearley, and Corkrum (2001) offer the all-so-familiar nominal group technique, which is a simple method to generate ideas with everyone having an equal voice. Each of the steps is represented below:

The facilitator presents the problem or decision.

The facilitator tells the group they have a few minutes to think about the problem or decision.

The facilitator has the individuals silently generate and write their ideas on 3×5 cards.

The facilitator gathers the ideas from each individual in a round-robin style and records them on a chart. When working with a large number of individuals, various groupings can be assigned.

When all ideas have been recorded, the group discusses each idea in order until everyone has a common understanding. If the group is large, the members can divide into smaller groups to collaborate and collectively share information on and merits and demerits of each idea.

With group agreement, the facilitator eliminates duplicate ideas and combines similar ones.

The authors also offer a method called Spend-a-Dot to narrow or prioritize a number of items on the list.

Record the possible solutions or ideas on a chart or series of charts and post the chart(s) on a wall.

Give each participant a set number of colored dots. The number of dots should be approximately 20 or 30 percent of the total number of ideas posted, and should not exceed ten dots.

Advise each participant to place one or all of the dots next to an item or items he or she considers important.

Count the number of dots for each item.

Discuss the implications of each item with the group.

Both processes are simple, yet so effective.

There are also instances where decisions need to be made, yet time is of the essence. This is a great opportunity to anonymously gather input through the use of online survey tools. This is especially effective when contractual agreements do not allow enough time for face-to-face meetings. Taking a couple of minutes to complete an online survey is far less disruptive.

Online survey tools are great for gathering information quickly. Many low-cost websites allow users to create professional survey formats to be turned into customized surveys with multiple choices, drop-down menus, and comment boxes. Some widely used online resources automatically offer reports summarizing the gathered data, including SurveyMonkey.com, Zoomerang.com, and Checkbox.com.

In summation, leaders need to create a culture where everyone has superhuman powers—in other words, all their ideas are well-known, creative, and invulnerable. This is possible only when the leader works with others to establish meeting protocols, as well as strategically using anonymity in decision making.

A wealth of information is available on the methods of engaging people in large- and small-group meetings. Here are some good references:

The Change Handbook by Peggy Holman, Tom Devane, and Steven Cady (2007). Sixty-one different change methods are offered by the originators and leading practitioners in the field.

The Practical Decision Maker by Thomas Harvey, William Bearley, and Sharon Corkrum (2001). This resource includes fifty-four different structuring devices for problem solving.

Large Group Interventions by Barbara Bunker and Billie Alban (1997). This book demonstrates a variety of interventions to create commitment from everyone.

The Handbook of Large Group Methods by Barbara Bunker and Billie Alban (2006). Similar to their earlier work in Large Group Interventions, Bunker and Alban provide a comprehensive overview of newer methods to apply.

Cheers!

Perry Wiseman, author, Strong Schools, Strong Leaders: What matter most in times of change

References

Harvey, T., Bearley, W., & Corkrum, S. (2001). The practical decision maker. Lanham, MD: Scarecrow Education.

Holman, P., Devane, T., & Cady, S. (2007). The change handbook: The definitive resource on today’s best methods for engaging whole systems. San Francisco, CA: Berrett-Koehler.

Bunker, B., & Alban, B. (1997). Large group interventions: Engaging the whole system for rapid change. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.

———   (2006). The handbook of large group methods: Creating systemic change in organizations and communities. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.

]]> http://kcculinary.wordpress.com/2009/11/05/the-culinary-center-of-kansas-city/ Wed, 04 Nov 2009 23:51:04 +0000 The Culinary Center of Kansas City http://kcculinary.wordpress.com/2009/11/05/the-culinary-center-of-kansas-city/

Announces our latest teambuilding model
“All Hands for Hunger”
A Culinary Teambuilding with a Purpose! Let’s
feed the need of our local community and build teams while we’re at it!
That’s right, you can have cake AND eat it too by dividing into teams
to create meals to be donated to your choice of 4 local charit…ies
that house individuals and families in need, all while building
camaraderie and fulfilling your required “day away from the office.” All Hands for Hunger